Building the Team - The Organization Chart

Business author Jim Collins, in his terrific book Good to Great, suggests, “Get the right people on the bus.  Get the wrong people off the bus.  Then, put the right people in the right seats.”  

An Organization Chart is a graphic representation of the main areas of your company, arranged according to reporting relationship.  In other words, the Organization Chart lists who is responsible for what and who reports to whom.  The Organization Chart represents the “seats on the bus.” 

If you are moving to business ownership from the corporate world you may cringe considering the formal structure of an Organization Chart.  Fear not!  The Organization Chart can be a wonderful tool.  Recalling my many, many jobs, I can count on three fingers the number of times I actually knew for what I was responsible and to whom I was required to report.  I would have loved that information on every job.  It's frustrating to not know what your responsibilities are.  It's confusing to have someone tell you what to do just to have another person tell you to do just the opposite. 

Organization Chart Exercise 

     For this exercise, you will need:

• A large unadorned wall or dry erase board. 
• A stack of Post It notes…the 3x3 inch size is good. 
• The sample Organization Chart (see the Toolbox to the right and download it for FREE.) 

Start by reviewing the basic company divisions on the Sample Organization Chart.   The divisions are indicated by the double-lined boxes.  Do the divisions reflect the main areas of activity in your company?  Customize as needed.  Note, you can use the Bare Bones Biz language for the divisions, or substitute your own names. 

Use Post It notes to identify the divisions on your Organization Chart.  Put them up on the dry erase board. 

On additional Post Its, list the Responsibilities for each division. Responsibilities are WHAT needs to be DONE to realize your Vision and Mission and achieve your Goals.  Review the Setting Sight section of your Plan Binder. 

Arrange the Post Its to show the reporting relationships.  Who is dependent on whom?  Who reports to whom?  For example, note the Sample Organization Chart is for the See More Blinds and Window Coverings Company.  Take a look at the Positions.  Don’t be bound by what is currently happening in your company.  Think more broadly.  Think in terms of how the company should ideally operate.   Plan for growth. 

Now, group the Responsibilities into Positions for your company.  Move the Post Its around until the Positions start to make sense to you.  Name the Positions. 

A Position Description lists the Responsibilities for that Position.  Find the pages of Sample Position Descriptions for the See More Blinds and Window Coverings Company and use them as examples.   A Position can be part time or full time. 

Assign names to the Positions.  Put “the right people in the right seats.”  Do your best to map out an Organization Chart that represents the basic divisions of your company, and addresses the main Responsibilities of each division. 

Draw your Organization Chart and write names in for the Positions.  Insert a copy of your Organization Chart in the Building the Team section of your Plan Binder.   

Refer to The Bare Bones Biz Plan for more help Building the Team. 

"Some people are more talented than others.  Some are more educationally challenged than others.  But we all have the capacity to be great.  Greatness comes with recognizing that your potential is limited only by how you choose.”-

-Peter Koestenbaum